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Flip The Script

Interview

Script has been around for a long time, but has recently come to prominence through his production collaborations with Zero T and FD. We touch base to get the full picture...

1. You've recently been involved with some high calibre collaborations with FD and Zero T. For a lot of people this will be the first they've heard of you although you've been around for quite a while, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your influences?

My first release came out in June. It was a co-lab between myself and FD. It is called "White Horse" and came out on CIA Deepkut. My second release with Zero T, “Guessing Games” is forthcoming on his new Footprints label around September time. It also features on the new Fabriclive Mix CD put together by Zero T. I feel very privileged to have my first 2 releases on such great labels.

I got involved with this music more than 20 years ago when I was in my teens. I have always loved electronic music and originally got into electro and hip hop before discovering Acid music. I used to attend a lot of the infamous M25 raves and go to events like Fantasy and Crazy Club at the Astoria where I really discovered my love for breaks, bleeps and bass.

I was very lucky as I was very good friends with DJ Crystl who would introduce me to record stall in Camden Market run by a bloke called Horace, so we used to end up there on a Sunday morning and buy the tunes out of a plastic crate that we had heard at the raves that weekend. It was different then. People would literally press up a few hundred tunes and dish them out. I have some very rare bits of hardcore thanks to Horace.

Anyway to cut a long story short, Crystl after having a lot of success with Deejay Recordings and Lucky Spin, eventually persuaded me and my best friend Neil to buy a studio. So we spent literally thousands and got together a really good hardware set up including an Akai S3000xl sampler, Novation Bass Station, Yamaha SY85 Synth, Spirit Folio mixing desk as well as other bits and the Atari 1040ST.

We had a few tunes played on Kiss FM by Kenny Ken and Grooverider, but then I met a woman, got married and basically stopped making music.

I didn’t stop buying music though. I am fortunate enough to have most stuff on vinyl. My influences are vast in drum and bass from the 90’s. There was so much good music around. It was continuously changing, morphing and evolving.

Through FD I met Zero T a few years ago. We hit it off very well. We would often hang out and one day we decided to get on a beat together. That’s when we did “Guessing Games”. He liked it and wanted to put it out on Footprints and include it in the Fabriclive mix which he was just about to record. I feel privileged to have my first tunes out on such well thought of record labels.

2. Drum & bass is going through something of a renaissance at the moment, the music has advanced well beyond the boundaries of old. What is your perception of the music at the moment and how do you see it progressing?

The 90’s were a very special time for drum & bass. So many artists making amazing innovative music. I feel that today we could be experiencing that all over again.

Over the past few years there have been a few events that have come out of the woodwork to break that mold and put on nights that provide the whole spectrum again. Nights like Medium, Organic, Momentum, Shogun and Metalheadz, although the latter 2 have never really compromised!

Artists that have come through during this time that are absolutely re-invigorating the scene in my opinion are the likes of Zero T, Alix Perez, Icicle, Rockwell, Jubei, Break, Ulterior Motive, FD, Sam KDC, System, Jubei, Fracture & Neptune, Khanage, Sato, Octane & DLR, Spectrasoul, Commix and many more. Labels like Footprints, Dispatch, Future Thinkin, Ingredients, Darkestral, Critical, Subtitles, Shogun and Metalheadz. Its like the competition is on again. I believe it’s a conscious one. Its just that producers also now know that if they want to actually make a living from doing the thing they love, then apart from djing they need to be able to sell music. Unfortunately as we all know vinyl sales are well down so you cant really make a living off that and or digital downloads. But again, in drum & bass, to be able to have an income from djing you need to sell music. Its kind of a catch 22 situation. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying everyone is in it for the “money”.

So all in all, the future for drum & bass is very bright at the moment. I am getting sent new music from people every day and some of the tunes are blowing me away, just like they did back in the golden eras of 94-96 and 98.

3. You're known as a bit of a vinyl monger. In a digital age where the focus has moved away from physical product, where do you see the role of a label as artists become more and more self sufficient?

You are correct there. I am known to have a fair amount of plastic on my shelves and taking up a lot of room at home. They are not just physical bits of vinyl or a collection of really good music (ok some rubbish has been gathered over the years too), but they represent memories and points in time for me. I can associate most music with things that have gone on in my life or things that I would like to happen

I think it’s a great shame that vinyl is fighting a losing war against technology, because I love vinyl. I love to play it more than digital format, both acoustically and from the sense of actually playing out, but on the flip I realise that technology will always be there and will move things forward.

I’d love to believe that more drum & bass vinyl sales is going to make a difference to vinyl sales as a whole in the grand scheme of things, but I seriously doubt it.

Drum & bass is now not thought of by the public and music critics as a “flash in the pan” music scene, and is accepted although niche, as a major form of dance music on a world wide scale. Its like it should be, ever evolving.

The only downside really to the digital thing apart from vinyl sales dropping on a global scale is that the music that an artist produces is now available for people to download illegally for free. This hurts DnB as a whole. It affects everybody, from the artist, the label, the distributor, and even the punter, as they will find vinyl prices will go up. Its like insurance to me. We pay a higher premium to drive our cars because others cant be bothered to pay what they should have done in the first place. But like motorists paying higher insurance premiums, artists and record labels have just had to come to terms with the fact that that’s the way its going to be until illegal music downloads on the internet are regulated, and I cant see that happening any time soon.

4. What can we look forward to from Script?

Well, Guessing Games by Zero T & Script should be out in September on Footprints along with a track from System on the flip.

I’ve just finished a new thing with FD called Sent Down which we are really pleased with and have been getting some good feedback on.

I shall be in the studio with Chris Inperspective for the first time in the next couple of weeks or so, and also trying to co-ordinate a studio session between myself, Zero T and old skool legend DJ Crystl, so watch out for that one!!!

I have a weekly internet radio show from 10-12GMT every Thursday night on www.atomicvibes.co.uk where I play a mix of past present and future drum and bass. I am fortunate enough to have many guests on the show regularly which kind of separates my show from just a 2 hour mix of tunes. Guests such as Icicle, Zero T, Tasha, FD, Chris Inperspective, Fracture & Neptune, DJ Crystl, MC Sense and many others make regular appearances.

I have got a few gigs coming up over the next couple of months including Technicality @ The Rhythm Factory which has a fantastic line up including the likes of Breakage and Genotype. Watch out.